


Blueberries

by AndInThoseMoments



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Blueberries, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Clint Cooks, F/M, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-31
Updated: 2013-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-07 02:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndInThoseMoments/pseuds/AndInThoseMoments
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper is exasperated by Tony's habit of feeding Bruce blueberries.  But Natasha knows Clint, so she understands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blueberries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [l_ostsheep3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/l_ostsheep3/gifts).



> For the lovely l_ostsheep3, who has given me some wonderful reviews.

Bruce took the blueberry Tony offered, smiling and nodding his thanks, then frowning at the engineer's retreating back, and looking over at the two women sat at the table sipping coffee.  
"Why does he keep doing that?" He asked.

Pepper answered "trying to be friendly" at the same moment that Natasha answered "conditioning". They looked at each other and smiled. Bruce rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

Tony had apparently just left to fetch some coffee, and he returned with a wide grin, holding out the packet of blueberries to the agent and his girlfriend. Natasha shook her head, but Pepper happily took out two, eating one and then popping the other into Tony's mouth with a gentle nuzzle against his cheek. 

"You're cute sometimes Tony." She muttered.  
"I am not cute. I am a genius, I am amazing, you should all love and worship me. I am not cute, or sweet, or adorable, or any other words like that, and anyone who says that I am is a liar and nasty..." He murmured, pouting a little. 

Pepper laughed, ruffling his hair, an amused smile on her lips. He grinned, kissed her cheek and then grabbed Bruce by the arm.  
"I'll give you more blueberries if you come and play in the workshop..." He tugged the scientist towards the door.

Natasha just raised an eyebrow and smirked.  
"I told you. Conditioning."

Pepper watched the boys leave, sipping her drink once more.  
"You think he's trying to train Bruce huh?"  
"I think he's managing to teach Bruce to spend time with him. And I believe that because of multiple self esteem issues, he believes that this behaviour needs to be encouraged by ensuring that it has positive associations, in this case by making sure that he gets a sweet or piece of fruit for doing what Tony wants. So yes, in simple terms - he's trying to train Bruce to listen to him."

"Oh..." Pepper frowned slightly, looking at Natasha. It sounded like she was speaking from experience, but Pepper knew that a lot of her friend's past was out of bounds, not to be mentioned or questioned, and was willing to bet that this was part of it. The female agent shrugged slightly, realising the CEO would never question her.

"I've had Clint do the same thing." She explained, and that answered a lot. She smiled fondly, one hand absentmindedly brushing over a wrist. Pepper wasn't foolish enough to think for a moment that that action was unintentional.

"With blueberries?"  
"Close enough. Blueberry flapjack." It was well known among the Avengers that Clint liked to bake, and now that Tony had supplied all the ingredients he could possibly need, almost every day there would be a fresh batch of cookies, or cake, or some other baked goods. Thor in particular approved of this.

"Yeh...” Pepper spoke slowly, trying to explain. “When I started working for Stark Industries, Tony would either not realise I was there, or try and... he'd give me fruit or sweets a lot, squirrelled them around so that he could pull them out at a moment's notice. I thought it was just him being annoying." She fell quiet for a moment, thinking about that. 

Tony had been naive in a way. He'd had a lot to deal with, but things like friendship... had been impossible. Friendship had only become an option since the Avengers, when he had learned that people might actually like him for who he was. So the constant treats, the gifts of art and fruit and the punnet of strawberries she had rejected - for Tony those weren't just gifts. They had been desperate, helpless attempts to get her to remain close, actions he hadn't even understood himself. She sighed, gazing down at the glass.

"I guess he was just trying to be friendly in a way..." She smiled sadly. "But... I think he's getting better."  
"He's doing much better now than he was before. When I met you..." There was a moment as the two women considered Natasha's infiltration of the company on Fury's behalf, with a false name and a fake smile. "He wasn't doing so well. But he's accepted he has friends now. I think if that happened again, it would be something he would tell you."

"I hope so. He makes my life hard enough as it is..." Pepper answered with a soft shake of the head. Then she yawned a little, and smiled contentedly. "But no, I think you're right. So what happened with the flapjack?"

Natasha pursed her lips, considering how to answer.  
Pepper hesitated, wondering if she had overstepped a boundary. It was easy to do when you talked to Natasha, and not a mistake she wanted to make.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it..." She said quickly, in an attempt to reassure her. "It doesn't matter. Probably above my clearance level."

Natasha smiled softly.  
"Coulson set your clearance level pretty high..." That was said quietly, but they both relaxed a little, and it gave Natasha the couple more moments she needed to pick out her words.

"Well, when I was brought in, I wasn't exactly...given the run of the base. I was an enemy, and just because I was injured didn't mean they trusted me." That was one way of explaining weeks of a small cell, restrained almost constantly, with psych evaluations and questioning and tests as she tried not to go mad from the same four walls. She kept the details hidden, but the sadness in Pepper's eyes showed that she had at least guessed some of it.

"So yes. I was limited in my movements, and I was beginning to go a little stir crazy, when Clint started popping in. And when I say popping in, I mean appearing from the ceiling and dropping onto my bed at inopportune moments."

Pepper giggled a little at that, and Natasha just nodded, telling the truth. "He wasn't meant to be, and his key card wouldn't open the door to my room, but when you're Clint key cards aren't a thing that stops you. So he turned up. Now, I wasn't pleased to see him, since our only previous meeting had ended with me getting an arrow through the leg."

She paused, her fingers rubbing over her wrist again, remembering the restraints. They'd been right to be careful with her. If she had been free then, she would have gone after them, tried to do what she had believed at the time to be right. But it was still frustrating to spend so long imprisoned.

"He'd sit there for hours, and try and talk to me, and I would ignore him. I had nothing I wanted to say to him, nothing I wanted to try and explain. I didn't want to listen to him. I hated him. And every day, he'd come, and he'd sit with me. I thought he was being sent by my handlers, but they had no idea about it."

She glanced over at Pepper.  
"Anyway, this carried on for about a week, and then he bought a plate full of flapjack. I was sure it'd be drugged, but given my situation I was going to be having the drug either way. So I ate it, and I listened to him talk. I didn't talk back, but I started to listen. And he became more than just the guy who shot me."

Pepper nodded in understanding. She realised that actions like that could stick, could change how you saw a person. She wished it had done the same for her and Tony - they were where they wanted to be now, but there had been a lot of dancing on egg shells as they had learned what was alright, where they stood.

There had also been a lot of broken glass and explosions, but those mainly hadn't been Tony's fault.

Natasha smirked, getting up and walking over to where Tony had left the packet of blueberries. She walked up to Pepper, and held one out.   
"Open up."  
Pepper laughed and opened her mouth, and Natasha placed it on her tongue.

"Are you trying to tame me Agent Romanoff?" Pepper asked with fondness towards her friend. Natasha laughed, a genuine sound that wasn't heard anywhere near often enough.  
"No, just trying to be friendly."

Pepper arched an eyebrow at her, a look that could normally make Tony listen and do whatever she wanted. Natasha just arched her own eyebrow in return, and Pepper laughed, smiling at her.

"So..." She took the blueberry packet, holding them out for Natasha to take one, aware of Natasha's need for space. "How about the four of us go out on a double date at some point..."

"I'm not sure that'd work. Mine and Clint's dates tend to include a lot of explosions."  
"Tony loves explosions." Pepper countered, smiling. "I'm sure we'll have a great time."

Natasha reached across the table to squeeze her hand.   
"Alright then." She stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an archer to hunt down."


End file.
